Daddy's Little Girl
by keepfabandgayon
Summary: He saw the signs. From Donna's very birth, there were… anomalies.


He saw the signs. From Donna's very birth, there were… anomalies. Strange events. Things disappearing. Multiplying. Breaking without being touched.

Neither of the twins had ever shown any signs, despite who they were named after - Dora and Fred, by his cousin's request. They didn't take too well to the strangeness.

His wife was terrified. Neither of them were particularly religious, but on several occasions, Anne resorted to calling in various men of faith in efforts to purge devils or malevolent spirits or bad karma or whatever from their home. She insisted on moving - six times. He just went along with it.

How was he supposed to tell her that their daughter was a witch, and a damn powerful one at that?

After one disastrous visit to his parents' house involving several exploding lamps and a vanishing tablecloth, he hadn't seen them in person for several years, only communicating through phone calls and the occasional letter. So it was a great surprise when his mother turned up one frigid December night, a week before Donna's eleventh birthday.

"Mum? What are you doing here?"

"You need to tell Anne."

"Mum-"

"The owls will start coming soon. You need to prepare her. And you _will_ be sending Donna to that school, unless you want her magic to go uncontrolled for the rest of her life."

"But, Mum, I can't tell her. She's terrified."

"Unless you want a smoking crater where this house stands, you'd better tell her, and quick. Now let me in."

He stepped aside. His mother had never done well in the cold, and she was getting on in years.

"Do you want me to call in your cousin?"

"Do you even know how to find him?"

"I believe he said something about becoming an Auror, and they work for the Ministry, so he shouldn't be too hard to find."

"He never struck me as one to work in government."

Mum settled herself on the couch, wrapping her shawl tighter around her bony frame now that her coat was gone. "It's magical law enforcement. Something of a police officer. Where is Anne?"

"She's picking up Donna from ballet. They love her there, they always talk about how she's so graceful, she always _flies through the air_- she'll end up playing that sport with the brooms and the Switch or whatever he called it-"

"Snitch. And the game was Quidditch."

He shook his head. "I don't understand, you used to hate magic so much. What happened?"

She shrugged. "I got over it. Realized there are more important things. Old age does that to you. It makes things that seemed so huge become completely insignificant."

He nodded. He knew the feeling.

000

In the end, Mum told Anne.

Anne, ever the American, responded with "You have _got_ to be _shitting_ me."

"I'm afraid not," she said. "Donna's a witch. And next year she'll be going to Hogwarts, to learn how to control her magic, and how to use it."

"Prove it."

He and Mum shared a look. "Well, we can't. We're not magical, you see. My cousin is."

"The one that lived in a closet until he was eleven?"

"Yes. He's a wizard."

"So. Say this is all true. Say a shit ton of owls are going to show up in a week and drop a million letters into the house-"

"Only one if we let her read it."

"Okay. One. One letter. And then, say this school is real and she goes to it. Say she learns some magic. What difference will it make from now?"

"Well, things will stop exploding at random times."

"So that's _Donna_?"

"Please tell me you didn't honestly think it was spirits."

"For a while I did! But I still don't know what the point is."

"If she can control her magic, she can control when she uses it. Well. Usually. We'll have to make sure she doesn't get too angry, but aside from that it shouldn't be a problem."

"All right. What now?"

"Now we wait."

000

Nine months later, they were led through Diagon Alley by a seventh-year student by the name of Teddy, who seemed to rather enjoy shocking them all by changing various facial features at random times, and slowly sending his hair through a full spectrum of different colors throughout the day.

"Bet he'll be surprised to see _you_ on the platform."

"I don't doubt that."

000

He was a bit apprehensive about getting onto Platform 9 ¾ - running headfirst through a wall seemed a bit… risky - but they all got through all right and emerged into a smoky haze, just barely making out the red train through the thick fog. Donna held her siblings' hands and chatted excitedly while her father pushed the trolley.

"Dudley? Is that you?"

He barely had time to turn around before his cousin was right next to him.

"It _is _you! Which one's the lucky witch or wizard?" Harry spotted Donna's excited grin and knelt down. "Hi! I'm your Uncle Harry. What's your name?"

She giggled. "Donna. And this is Dora and Fred!" she indicated her siblings.

"Well, Donna, I'm sure you'll have a fine time at Hogwarts. I know I did. It always felt like home to me - especially after living in a closet for eleven years."

She grinned. "Daddy says you're still living in a closet." The twins shared a look of great amusement.

His smile fell as he looked up at his cousin. "Your Daddy should keep his opinions to himself. Now, how would you like to meet my kids? I think you and Lily will get along very well." He took one of Donna's hands and led her over to his own group. Dudley followed and watched almost sadly as she boarded the train with a young, red-headed girl.

Donna leaned out of a window a few minutes later to wave goodbye. "Bye, Mum and Daddy! Bye, Fred! Bye, Dora! I'll see you at Christmas!" She pulled her head in when the train started to move.

"She'll do fine," Anne said, putting a hand on her husband's arm.

"I know." He met Harry's eyes across the platform. Harry waved and gave a small smile. Dudley waved back. "I know."


End file.
